Art Booth Disaster Recovery

My name is Neil Stickel and I have been running Neil Stickel Photography for 4 years now - a Fine Art Photography business. I travel around the world taking photos, and around the Midwest United States showing and selling my art at Art Shows and Festivals.

The Short Version:

Friday the 14th, after the 1st day of the Millenium Art Festival, a severe storm hit the art show footprint and my booth was destroyed by rain/wind/microburst with 70mph winds. We received a call from the production staff that we needed to come down to the site in the middle of the night, and upon arrival, I realized that we were done at that show for the weekend, and I was in trouble for future shows. My tent and display infrastructure were pretty much destroyed, and I would be unable to participate in the show for the rest of the weekend and will be boothless, and incomeless - until I can replace major components.

(Photos/video to follow when we get back home in Milwaukee)

The Bottom Line:

$1200 USD is needed for a replacement tent and parts to participate in the rest of my shows this year and to retain my income as well.

The Long Story:

This weekend (July 14th through 16th) my partner Jamie and I were excited to be participating in the Millenium Art Festival in downtown Chicago. This was to be our year to succeed here, as last year was riddled with 3 days straight of thunderstorms. I was sure this year would be better!

The first day of the show was Friday, and it went well: the weather was pleasant and the crowd was good. It was a solid start to the 3 day weekend and we were excited about the next two days which were sure to be much nicer!

We knew some weather was coming so we removed all the art off of the walls and secured it under and on top my the folding table in the middle of my booth, underneath a tarp and secured tightly with clamps. OK! All is well! We went home, had some dinner and a few drinks, and watched the lightning show outside.

After a while of watching the storm, I did get a bit of anxiety, thinking "WOW, that's pretty bad." Around 1:30 am we woke up and I looked at my phone. Missed a call and voicemail from 1:09 am from the show producers telling me that there was damage to my tent and display. I immediately went into a panic, but we also had a few drinks in us and decided to wait until first light to head into Chicago (we were about 1 hour away). We didn't get much sleep and around 4 am I got a second call with more details. The tent was destroyed and the display was badly damaged; we should get down there ASAP; the show was over for us.

The hour-long drive was stressful and blurry at this point. We had no idea at this point the extent of the damage. Upon arrival, it was like driving into a disaster area. It looked like a tornado hit: tents tossed around at random. Some were flattened or tossed while others were just fine. We were not so lucky. During the time from when it happened to our arrival, the Production Staff for the event had done as much gathering up of artist's stuff as they could, so my booth had become a vaguely organized pile. Our table with all the art secured the tarp was untouched - a total miracle, all things considered. The tent however lifted over the table and went flying. The tent top was removed by staff and the body was collapsed, having been torn to pieces by the wind. The display walls and support piping were in another pile along with everything else. The white tent walls made up yet another pile.

We walked around in a daze for a while before even knowing where to start. We started to pick apart the piles and make 2 fresh piles: keep, or garbage. The tent is now in a dumpster as it was outright destroyed. Most of the rest of the stuff came home with us to sort out what was salvageable.

All in all, we need to replace the tent, 1 Soft Wall (the black display wall), all the connecting hardware, and some various little hardware that was just lost - totaling $1200 USD. Without these components, I am effectively shut down from conducting any business at art shows, which is the main source of income for the business, and a major part of our income.